Beached Az
A presentation for the AFTRS Grad Cert Screen Culture New Media
Distribution module, 2011
The Beached Az Story
Three friends in media production who are between jobs decide to
create the first video (then known as 'Beached Whale'), post it to
YouTube and distribute the link to friends. It quickly becomes a
viral video success.About the time the video receives its millionth
hit, they decide it's time to start monetising the property.
The team start printing Beached Az T-shirts with an online
company that also distributes direct to the consumer, meaning
overheads are low. They are making thousands of dollars a month as
a result.
The clothing chain Supre then approachesthe team and makes an
offer to print and distribute Beached Az shirts through their
stores. It quickly becomes the stores' most popular line ever.
The Supre opportunity allowed the team togo to the ABC and have
a seriescommissioned, broadcast anddistributed via online and
mobiles.
They have since released iPhone and iPad apps, a game, had a
second season of 21 episodes Produced/broadcast and had both
seasons released on DVD.
The original video now has over 6 million views.
Distribution vs. Storytelling
The distribution method affects the storytelling by the need to
make the content short, sharp and 'snackable'.
Content is still king though.
Its very much designed to be consumed though social networks.
Snack media is how we describe it. It doesnt matter how good your
publicity is, it doesnt matter how good your social media strategy
is, it doesnt matter how many Twitter friends you have, if you dont
produce good content with a good idea you are never going to go too
far. In fact you are probably going to go less far than you would
before the days of social media because people talk now easier and
quicker to find out what's hot and what's not.-The Handsomity
Institute, creators of Beached Az
Beached Az
Commissioning
Production
Broadcast
Merchandising
Home media distribution
This means the traditional model has been flipped from
this...
Beached Az
Production
Distribution (Online [Free!])
Merchandising
Acquisition
Distribution (FTA + DVD)
To this...
"The hybrid economy is basically, 'invest in the physical to
support the digital'. It's merchandise and on the net you can get
merchandise for pretty much everything as long as you have a strong
enough brand." -Dan Illic, Hungry Beast presenter
Beached Az
References
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/comics-killer-line-tv-is-dead/story-e6frg996-1226071300708
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/beached-az-trio-make-whale-of-a-business-out-of-mocking-kiwis/story-e6frez89-1225942119188
